Red Sox 6, Astros 1: Lackey helps Sox to four-game sweep

Sunday

BOSTON -- The first time this season John Lackey walked off the mound at the end of an outing, his right arm helplessly dangled at his side.

BOSTON — For most of his time in a Red Sox uniform, John Lackey has had to deal as much with his health as he has the hitters.

Be it the elbow injury that landed him on the operating table two years ago or the strained biceps that sidelined him for the last three weeks, Lackey has not often been able to take the mound pitching at peak efficiency.

“We can all recognize the last couple of years have been as much competing against his own body as it has been the opponent,” manager John Farrell said.

At long last, Lackey looked on Sunday like he was competing only against the Houston Astros and not against himself. The results were superb.

Lackey navigated a rocky first inning and cruised from there, tossing six strong innings as the Red Sox polished off a four-game sweep of the Astros with a 6-1 win at Fenway Park on Sunday. The win lifted the Red Sox to 18-7 on the reason, sending them to Toronto 9½ games ahead of a Blue Jays team so many picked to win the division before the season.

Lackey struck out four and walked two — both in the first inning — in his six innings. Heavily featuring a cutter to get swings and misses and soft contact, he retired 13 straight hitters at one point in the middle of the game. He needed only 81 pitches to get through six innings — that even after he needed almost 30 pitches in the first inning alone.

“They were swinging pretty early in counts in the second through the fifth,” he said. “I got quite a few ground balls on first, second pitches. They definitely got pretty aggressive on me, so I was trying to locate my fastball most of the time.”

When he got into a jam in the sixth inning, he struck out Fernando Martinez swinging at a cutter away and got Matt Dominguez to bounce a ground ball to shortstop to strand all three runners.

“I thought the ball got out of his hand better than expected, not only in terms of velocity but in the action to which some of his pitches showed at the bottom of the strike zone,” Farrell said. “Honestly, it was better than expected in most ways today.”

Stephen Drew hit a two-run triple and Daniel Nava scored three runs, and the scalding-hot David Ortiz hit an RBI single in the first inning and an RBI double in the seventh. Mike Carp singled and scored in the fourth inning and hit an RBI double in the fifth.

As was the case throughout the series against Houston, Red Sox hitters drove up the pitch count early on Astros starter Bud Norris.

“Our overall offensive approach has been outstanding,” Farrell said. “Guys aren’t afraid to pass the baton onto the next guy. They’ll take their walks in key spots. We’ve had good situational hitting. Most importantly, we’ve driven the pitch counts up of starters and have gotten into the bullpen.”

Nava punctuated the sweep of the Astros with a sensational diving catch in the right-field corner to end the game — his second terrific catch in right field, a position he’s playing only because Shane Victorino is hurt.

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